Lock-rod for cards.



Na. 658,788. Pamntei sept. 25, 1900. u. E. HUNTER.

LOGK ROD FOR CARDS.

(Application filed Jan. 27, 1900.) (No Mudel.)

NITED w STATES 4 PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID E. HUNTER, OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE LIBRARY BUREAU, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

LOOK-.ROD FOR CARDS.

SPECIFICATION forming' part of Letters Patent No. 658,738, dated September 25, 1900.

Application filel January 27, 1900. Serial No. 2,939. (No model.)

To all wwm it may concerm Be it knownthat I, DAVID E. HUNTER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cambridge, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Lock-Rods for Cards, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

The present invention is an improvement in lock-rod reeeptacles for card-indexes, &c., and has for its object the provision of an exceedingly simple and inexpensive lock-rod capable of being locked in position to secure the cards against unauthorized removal and also capable of being moved down into a cavity or recess in the bottom of the box, so as to be entirely out of any possible contact with the cards as the latter are being changed in the box.

This lock-rod is of the disappearing-lockrod kind, (as I have termed it inniy United States Patent No. 638,017, dated November 28, 1899,) being non-removable from the box and yet capable of being disengaged from the cards and sheathed or inclosed in a recess or cavity outside of the space normally occupied by the cards.

My present invention comprises a lock-rod composed of a single Wire, bar, or rod normally held against 'possible removal from the box by means of an enlargement at the inner end of the rod adapted to bear against a Washer or other retaining device adjacent the escutcheon end.

The further details of my invention and the construction of the latter, together with various advantages'thereof, will be explained in the following description, and the invention will be more particularly set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a central longitudinal Vertical section of a drawer provided With my invention. Fig. 2 is a similar section of a fragmentary portion of the lefthand end of Fig. 1, showing the lock-rod in its lowered or disappearing position. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the lock-rod and co- Operating escutcheon plate and lock, show-- Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the handle end of the lock-rod. Fig. 6 shows the rear end of the lock-rod in top plan. Fig. 7 is a rear elevation of the switch-plate.

In any drawer or box or card-receptacle a, which may be provided, as usual, with a follower-block a' and a front inclined block (12, adjacent the front a3 of the box or card holder, I bore or provide an aperture 0,4 through the front of the box and correspondingly aline apertures a5 0,6 in the blocks a' az, and on the front of the box I secure a special escutcheonplate (L7, (shown in detail in Figs. 3 and 4,) said plate for economy of construction having a plate assecured on the back side thereof, so as to form projectons (19 at the bottorn of a circular opening aw in the escutcheon, said projections a? constituting stops to limit the rotary movement of the lock-rod proper and also constituting looking-Shoulders, as will be presently explained. From the opening a10 the escutcheon-plate has a slot (1,12 extending downwardly and provided with an enlarged aperture als at its lower end.

The lock-rod, as herein shown, consists of a single round Wire 01,14, although it will be understood that I do not limit myself in respect to the cross-sectional shape thereof. This rod at its inner end has an enlargement a, said enlargement being herein shown as swaged thereon simply by one blow of a drophammer spreading the metal out laterally sufficiently for the purpose required, and at its other end said lock-rod is secured to a handle or finger-grip a16 in any manner, as by threads a", and also secured on the outer end of the rod C014 is a peculiar locking-stamp or piece of metal comprising a hub als, substantially of the sector-shaped opening, bound by the shoulders a9 and the arc aw, as

shown in Fig. 4, said hub being capable of movelnent straight in and out of the opening shown below the reference-letter a10 in Fig. 4, and immediately behind said hub 0.18 is a groove or notch (x19, adapted to fit over the lugs or Shoulders ai), so that when the hub IOO l too far, I provide a stop (n20 in the groove a, which coperates with the left-hand shoulder (L9, Fig. 4. A circular boss e21 is at one side of the groove a, and beyond this I provide a tongue (122 for closing the opening a12 (113 when the lock-rod is in locked position. The said boss a21 fits the circular opening al in the plate cz.7.

It will be understood that the special details of construction shown and explained minutely above are preferred; but I do not limit myself thereto, said details and various other of the details herein described being provided for the sake of economy of manufacture.

At the rear side of the front 0,3 of the box I secure a switch-plate e23, as shown in Fig. 6, where it will be seen that it has a switchingslot (02* and prefcrably has lugs a25 for holding into the Wood of the bottom of the box.

Below the opening a4 and also in the back of the block C42 I form slots (1,26 a, and in the bottom of the box I form a chamber or recess e28 the same as the passage or way for the lock-rod shown in my hefore-mentioned patent, while on the rod a I monnt a washer, ring, or plate a, preferably held for Vertical movement in a slot e30 and constituting means for preventing the removal of the rod from the receptacle when the rod is pulled out to disengage the cards.

At the bottom of the block a2 I provide a piece of Wire 61.31 for the purpose of decreasing the friction and wear of the rod on said block, as it is esseutial that under no circumstances should the rod a be permitted to rise sufiiciently to strike the bottom edges of the cards as it is being inserted in the sheath aga.

In use the rod is pulled out from the position shown in Fig. l until the enlargement e15 strikes against the ring a, it being thereby prevented from further outward movement. The parts, however, in that position are free to drop, so as to bringr the rod into alinement with the chamber a28 provided therefor, it being evident that the enlarged end (115 of the rod can drop in the slot e27, the ring a29 sliding in the groove e30 and the adjacent part of the rod in the slots a, azs, and 0.12. The rod a is then shoved straight ahead until it is entirely retained and concealed in the recess e28, the opening a16 of the escutcheon serving to receive the hub a18, in which position the tongue e22 is upright, as shown in Fig. 3, closing the aperture in the escutcheonplate. The cards having been readjusted or removed and others inserted, the operator then withdraws the rod from the bottom of the box until the enlargement (115 Strikes against the ring 0,26 and then lifts the same into alinement with the openings as aG and reinserts it in the cards in an obvious manner, the hub a18 being inserted in the upper opening of the escutcheon-plate and rotated to the right a half-turn, so as to lock the same over the Shoulders 11, being stopped by the engagement of the projection (12 with one of said Shoulders, Whereupon the cards are locked in the box and the rod is locked in holding position.

My object has been to simplify, improve, and cheapen the construction shown in my Patent No. 638,017 above mentioned, and I have succeeded in providing in a single rod a mechanism carrying out the broad features of operation and the general principles of my previous invention, while at the same time greatly sim plifying the various parts thereof and materially redueing the cost of manufactnre. In the specific construction shown in my aforesaid patent it is necessary to bend a holding-rod and otherwise manipulate the same, thereby requiring extra machine and hand labor, and also considerable [itting of parts is required, milling, dac. whereas all this is done away with in my present invention.

I do not herein claim, broadly, the provision of coperating lugs and stops in a twohole escutcheon nor the provision in connection with a disappearing lock-rod of upper and lower connected openings in the front of the box for accommodating the movement of the rod, as said general improvements are claimed in my aforesaid patent, as is also, broadly, the disappearing lock-rod construction itself, of which generic invention my present invention is an improvement and simplification. On the other hand, my present invention is capable of considerable variation in details of construction and form and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of my present invention as defi ned in the appended claims.

Having described my invention, What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a card holder or box, a lock-rod consisting of a single bar or longitudinally-extending member, and coperating means in the box and on the rod for preventing removal of the latter from the box, said box having upper and lower passages or ways permitting longitudinal movement of said rod in either of them.

2. In a card holder or box, a lock-rod extending longitudinally of the box, an enlargement at the inner end of said rod, and a device slidingly mounted on said rod within the box and against which said enlargement abuts, for preventing the removal of the rod from the box.

3. In a card holder or box, a lock-rod extending longitudinally of the box, an enlargement at the inner end of said rod, and a device slidingly mounted on said rod, and means retaining said device at the front of the box, said enlargement striking against said device in the operation of the rod, for preventing removal of the latter from the box.

4. In a card-holder, a lock-rod consisting of a single longitudinal Wire 01' member having at its forward end a handle extending outside of the front of the holder and at its rear end a flattened or swaged enlargement.

IOO

IIO

5. In a card-holder, a loek-rod having secured at its outer end an angularly-shaped hub, and a groove adjaoent said hub, said holder having a plate provided With an aperture to receive said hub, and a shoulder or lug to enter said groove, said hub and rod being rotatable in unison, and said hub upon rotaton engaging behind said lug to look said rod in retained position, and a stop adjaeent said hub located in said groove coperating with said 111g for lilniting the rotary movement of said rod.

6. In a card-holder, a look-red movable longitudinally thereof consisting of a single wire or longitudinally-extending part, and an enlargement at the inner end thereof, said holder having an aperture through its front DAVID E. HUNTER.

Witnesses:

GEO. H. MAXWELL, GEO. W. GREGORY. 

